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Somerset testators and legatees
(1501-1530)Somerset was almost coextensive with the diocese of Bath and Wells, which exercised local probate jurisdiction through its consistory and archdeaconry courts: but superior to the diocese was the province of Canterbury. Somerset testators who also had property outside the county had their wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC). The Somerset Record Society embarked on a program of publishing genealogical abstracts of the registered copy wills of Somerset testators in the PCC archives, and in 1903 (volume xvi) printed abstracts edited by the Reverend F. W. Weaver from the PCC registers 1501-1503 (register Blamyr), 1504-1506 (Holgrave), 1506-1508 (Adeane), 1508-1511 (Bennett), 1511-1514 (Fetiplace), 1514-1517 (Holder), 1517-1520 (Ayloffe), 1520-1522 (Maynwaryng), 1523-1525 (Bodfelde), 1525-1528 (Porch) and 1529-1530 (Jankyn). In addition, the volume includes abstracts of 48 Somerset copy wills in the registers of the Archbishops of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace Library from 1363 to 1491. The heading of each abstract gives the year of making the will (not the year of probate) and the testator's name in bold. Below that is the quire number and name of the PCC register. Date and details of probate are given at the foot of each abstract. Spellings of surnames are preserved as they appear in the registered copy wills, and may vary within a single document.

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Inhabitants of Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire
(1406-1535)The Hospital of the Holy Cross was founded in 1269; in time this fraternity became a social and religious gild. 'The Register of the Gild of the Holy Cross, the Blessed Mary and St John the Baptist of Stratford-upon-Avon' was edited by J. Harvey Bloom, rector of Whitchurch, and printed in 1907. The register is a record of admissions to the gild, an account of the fines paid by new members, and the names of those in arrear. Each year's record usually starts on the Monday after Ascension Day (the sixth Thursday after Easter), when the new aldermen, master and proctors of the gild were elected, all duly named. Then follow the admissions to the gild, including payments for prayers and candles (lights) for the faithful dead; and the names of the sureties for these payments. Interspersed with this are occasional proclamations and memoranda concerning the fraternity. A peculiarity of this publication is that the years given at the head of each page (e. g. 1502-3) are those of the regnal year (in that case 18 Henry VII) in which the Monday after Ascension Day fell. The regnal years of Henry IV, Henry VI, Richard III and Henry VII all started after that day in the calendars of 1399, 1422, 1483 and 1485; so the gild registers during those years actually cover the following year to that shown in this printed text (in that case, 1503-4).

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Inhabitants of Nottingham
(1485-1547)The muniments of the borough of Nottingham include extensive mediaeval archives. A selection from these from the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII was prepared and edited by W. H. Stevenson for the Corporation, and printed, with translations of the passages in Latin, in 1885. The principal sources used are the borough Court Books, largely dealing with civil cases, for which an almost complete series survives for this period; Sessions Rolls (92 survive for the two reigns), in which crimes and misdemeanours are recorded; a Mickletorn or Leet jury roll; detailed chamberlains' and bridge-wardens' accounts; and the Hall Books, or council minutes. There are lists of burgesses enrolled; bakers admitted to bake; and fines for licences to trade. A subsidy roll of 1523-4 lists householders by street, and there is an appendix of local deeds, including some material dating back to the 14th century.

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Liegemen and Traitors, Pirates and Spies
(1547-1550)The Privy Council of Edward VI was responsible for internal security in England and Wales, and dealt with all manner of special and urgent matters

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Tradesmen of York
(1272-1558)No man or woman could trade in the city of York without having obtained 'freedom' of the city.Their names were recorded on the 'Freemen's Roll', or Register of the Freemen of the City of York, which contains about 19,900 names for this period. A list of names was prepared for each year, the year being here reckoned as starting at Michaelmas (29 September) until 1373, and thence at Candlemas (2 February). Each annual list starts with the name of the mayor and the camerarii or chamberlains. The chamberlains were freemen charged with the duty of receiving the fees of the new freemen; of seeing that only freemen traded in the city; and of preparing this roll, which was compiled from the names on their own account books from the receipts for the fees. There are three groups of freemen: those who obtained freedom after serving out an apprenticeship to a freeman; the children of freemen; and those who claimed freedom by 'redemption', i. e. by purchase or gift from the Mayor and Court of Aldermen.

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London funerals and other news
(1550-1563)Henry Machyn was a citizen and merchant-taylor of London. He had a professional interest in the lavish funerals of his fellow citizens, and in October 1550 started a note book giving brief details of these occasions. Soon he added political news, and (in an age before newspapers) he had a journalist's eye for accidents, hangings, the preachings and suppression of heretics, and the fortunes and misfortunes of dissidents. He lived in interesting times; the early death of Edward VI; the failed attempt to install Jane on the throne; the succession of queen Mary, and a lurch towards Catholicism; her marriage to Philip of Spain; her death, and the accession of queen Elizabeth. Machyn's humble journal, written for his own amusement and with a resolute indifference to orthography, became in its time an important historical source, used by Strype, and then edited by John Gough Nichols for the Camden Society and published in 1848.

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Militia in Taunton hundred, Somerset
(1569)A muster of the ablemen, gunners, light horsemen, pikemen, archers and billmen available from this hundred, compiled by sir Hugh Paulet, sir Maurice Barkeley, sir Ralph Hopton and John Horner in answer to a royal commission of the 11th year of queen Elizabeth. The returns are arranged by tithing. The hundred consisted of the parishes of Angersleigh, Bishops Hull, Bradford on Tone, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Combe Florey, Corfe, Cothelstone, Heathfield, Hillfarrance, Kingston St Mary, Lydeard St Lawrence, Norton Fitzwarren, Nynehead, Oake, Orchard Portman, Otterford, Pitminster, Rimpton, Ruishton, Staplegrove, Stoke St Mary, (the borough of) Taunton, Tolland, Trull, West Bagborough, Wilton and Withiel Flory. (The sample shown is from the return for the borough of Axbridge)

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Liegemen and Traitors, Pirates and Spies
(1558-1570)The Privy Council of queen Elizabeth was responsible for internal security in England and Wales, and dealt with all manner of special and urgent matters

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Cecil Manuscripts
(1540-1571)Letters and papers of the Earl of Hertford and (1551-1571) sir William Cecil, Secretary of State. Also includes some miscellaneous material as early as 1306.

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Citizens of Oxford
(1509-1583)These selections from the Oxford city records were printed in 1880 under the direction of the Town Clerk. Much of the material comes from the council minutes: 24 common councillors were elected out of the citizens at large each 30 September. Apart from the general administration of the city, a large number of cases involve people brought before the Council for using improper language, or other misbehaviour. There is an almost unbroken series of hanasters, or admissions to freedom of the city, listing the names of those who by purchase, birth or apprenticeship were admitted to the guild merchant.